BEST ENGLISH COOKIES RECIPES

Steps:

• Beat the butter, sugar, salt and vanilla together until smooth and creamy.
• Mix in the egg yolk until well incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl at least once.
• Add the flour and mix just until incorporated.
• Scrape onto a lightly floured board and knead a few times, just until the dough smooths out.
• Turn onto a sheet of plastic wrap and roll into a log, wrap up and refrigerate for several hours or freeze.
• Before baking, preheat the oven to 325°F.
• Line your baking sheets with parchment.
• Slice the dough into slices about 1/8" thick and place them on the sheets about an inch apart (they won't be spreading very much, but they need air room around each cookie).
• Bake until JUST beginning to turn golden around the edges, about 16-18 minutes.
• Note: you can do many things with these cookies.
• You could roll the dough out and cut shapes.
• You could slice them even thinner and sandwich them with chocolate or jam or lemon curd.
• You could make them and then dip them half into chocolate.
• You could just make them and eat them, which is my favorite.
• Whatever you do, they will be delicious.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix together the butter and 1 cup of sugar until they are just combined. Add the vanilla. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and salt, then add them to the butter-and-sugar mixture. Mix on low speed until the dough starts to come together. Dump onto a surface dusted with flour and shape into a flat disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.
• Roll the dough 1/2-inch thick and cut with a 3 by 1-inch finger-shaped cutter. Place the cookies on an ungreased baking sheet and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the edges begin to brown. Allow to cool to room temperature.
• When the cookies are cool, place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Put 3 ounces of the chocolate in a glass bowl and microwave on high power for 30 seconds. (Don't trust your microwave timer; time it with your watch.) Stir with a wooden spoon. Continue to heat and stir in 30-second increments until the chocolate is just melted. Add the remaining chocolate and allow it to sit at room temperature, stirring often, until it's completely smooth. Stir vigorously until the chocolate is smooth and slightly cooled; stirring makes it glossier.
• Drizzle 1/2 of each cookie with just enough chocolate to coat it.